The world of dreams are a haunting place. So vividly real yet at the same time a mimic of the real world, much like a cartoon. This Halloween segment starts out with that same comparison. Bart Simpson has a dream that he is basically inside a kids’ cartoon world, complete with zany physical comedy and a talking dog, that is until Groundskeeper Willy shows up to shatter the narrative of the dream and attempt to kill Bart’s “dream” self.
Bart wakes up and tells Lisa and several of the students about the mysterious dream and they all say they’ve seen the homicidal maniac in their dreams as well–“He got me with his floor buffer,” says the shining Nelson. From a nearby tree, thanks to comic cartoon illusion, Principal Skinner is conveniently eavesdropping the children’s conversation: “Children, I couldn’t help monitoring your conversation. There’s no mystery about Willy. Why, he — simply disappeared. Now, let’s have no more curiosity about this bizarre cover-up.” Skinner’s got a classic way of clearing things up and then shooting himself in the foot with comments like this, and it’s great to hear the dead pan manner in which Harry Shearer delivers these lines, like it’s no concern of Skinner’s that he just told the children that, yes, there is a bizarre cover-up surrounding Willy’s death. That afternoon, while writing a standardized test to ensure the best funding for the school, Martin dozes off and meets his demise to a long-tongued Willy in his dream. And again, while wheeling away the corpse (covered, mind you), Skinner whispers to Nurse/Lunchlady Doris to be quiet–even though Martin died while in class. As the cover accidentally comes off the body they children scream, and Doris rushes away–in front of the kindergarten class to Skinner’s dismay.
This concern leads Bart and Lisa to run to Homer and Marge and say that Martin died. Hilariously jumping to conclusions, Marge is concerned, “I don’t see what that has to do with Groundskeeper Willy.” Whoops, nice slip-up, Marge–odd, because it’s usually Homer that’s capable of this kind of blunder, not Marge.
Anyway, the two go into the sordid history of Willy’s death, and the story is so hilariously written and focused that it’s hard not to laugh when Marge introduces the scene: “It all started on the thirteenth hour, of the thirteenth day, of the thirteenth month. We were there to discuss the misprinted calendars the school had purchased.” Homer’s “Lousy Smarch weather” completely giving into the misprinted calendar, Willie’s fatal grammatical error and Homer’s literal reading of “Do not touch Willie” below the thermostat. The rundown of all the financial burdens which Willie just so happens to come across in his attempts to escape–door knob repair, new functioning fire extinguishers, “a free service from the Fire department,” all mechanically nay-ed by the parents of Springfield. When Willie finally escapes he reaches the PTA classroom and is forced to wait — “Please Willie, Mr. VanHouten has the floor”–for Kirk VanHouten’s irrelevant request to see the school menu in advance even though a man is burning alive in front of them. It’s so tightly written and perfectly timed that I laugh every time.
As the episode goes on it parodies A Nightmare on Elm Street and Bart and Lisa are forced to eventually go into their dreams and confront Willie. Bart falls asleep and after a fight, thinks Willie’s dead, so he can go on with his regular dream–“me and Krusty winning the Superbowl.” But Willie isn’t dead and the in a final fight, Lisa and Maggie fall asleep and it’s Maggie who saves the day with her ever trusty pacifier.
When they finally wake up, Lisa comes to a startling realization: “I don’t know, Bart. Something tells me Willy’s still out there, and that he could come back at any time in any form and kill us in ways we can’t even imagine!” A bus pulls up and Willie comes out making mock scary noises and poses in attempts to threaten the children but the bus pulls away and Willie has to chase after–“I left my gun on the seat.”
This episode is a little weak at the third act because it’s a showcase more for movie parody and the zany things that can happen in dreams, so it’s a little unstructured. But that opening is so strong, so tightly written that it makes up for the lag at the end, and it’s bookmarked perfectly with the zany narrative twist that somehow Willie is alive and well, not in the dream world and still out to kill them. The Simpsons is still a cartoon, after all, and like “The Monkey’s Paw” this is a strong example of The Simpsons at it’s finest, parody and satire without getting in the way of a funny story and the characters that make it work.
Tomorrow: The best Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror” Segment.
See the previous segments here: Send in the Clones, Citizen Kang, Bart Simpsons’ Dracula, Time and Punishment, The Homega Man, Hell Toupee, The Monkey’s Paw
Paul Sawchuk 
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